November 4, 2008

At Our Lady of Pompei School and Parish, politicians focus less on politics and more on the community. Paying seven dollars at the door, family, friends, and politicians sit down on Election Day and share an Italian feast with plenty of spaghetti and conversation.

"There is no Democrat and no Republican here, its all one, we're all Pompeians," said the pastor, Father Paul Angelicchio.

It takes about 100 volunteers to make this supper happen each year and the De Martino family carries its own weight.

"I've been helping out for a couple years," said Liz De Martino, a 6th grader at Our Lady of Pompei. "I'm carrying trays this year, my mom is  working taking out, my grandparents are coming to eat and my brother is coming to help us later.”

“Head chefs”, Joe Losurdo and Tino Porrino, hand rolled 7,000 meatballs, made 350 gallons of red spaghetti sauce, and boiled 640 pounds of pasta for the 2,500 meals.

Losurdo and Porrino stand over hot pots of meatballs and spaghetti from five o’clock this morning to about nine o’clock tonight.

“We get free lunch, and lots of spaghetti,” they joked.

Mark Stanczyk and Kathleen Rapp, the Democratic and Republican floor leaders of the Onondaga County Legislature, sat side-by-side talking and eating.

A few tables away, County Executive, Joanie Mahoney says that the spaghetti supper is about the community and not the politics.

“This is when everybody comes together and we realize why we are all doing it. It’s just about the community,” said County Executive, Joanie Mahoney looking up from her plate.